Azrie Part: 2/2
◇ ◇ ◇
Elasia guided me through the building, not bothering to explain many things since I was apparently not going to be here for much longer. Well according to her anyway. The Illusionist was nowhere to be seen, as she had mentioned, I would be dealing with her from now on. Her appearance sort of bothered me a bit, but I was inclined to trust The System, and she also looked slightly different than a Woodland Elf, just a bit. Her demeanor was different, and her hair sparkled under the sunlight as if it was living. Her ears too were slightly less long, but that was about it. I followed after her through the hallways, her ears trembled at random intervals and her height was slightly higher than me. For all intents and purposes she was unthreatening, though her level was still about five times mine.
I was still getting used to things, getting used to The System. I closed my eyes, some brief flashes of what had happened a few hours prior filled my mind—the birds, the trial—I was still inexperienced. I had believed I could kill the Guardian worm, which maybe it was a possibility, but not like how I had done it. Refusing The Illusionist’s offer was perhaps a mistake, but at the same time I didn’t know any better; I did not understand the difference of levels, nor the fact that one could just disguise their own level, though perhaps it was more related to his particular Prophecy, that I was unsure. I just did not understand the mistakes I could make, and ultimately a wrong one would all be paid with my life.
It didn’t sit well with me. I sigh left me as I saw Elasia pause before a door, it was different and metallic, an almost straight-edge design with perfect lines. She grabbed onto a strangely shaped handle and slid it— the door opened sideways and led to a large room—an expansive space that covered an impossibly large section of the building. The insides of the room (if it could even be called that), were full of boxes, stacked on each other as far as the ceiling allowed. There were random objects that littered the ground, and others that were bunched in piles at random intervals.
“Welcome to our warehouse.”
Warehouse? It didn’t seem like much of a house, but instead of questioning it I decided to admire my surroundings. Elasia walked forward, I followed after while looking at the unchanging ceiling, at the repetitive metal boxes. Some were of different color and materials, but most were metal, I found it interesting but thought nothing of it. Soon we reached the end of the room where there were numerous vases, all of them similar in height; reaching about as high as my knee.
She gestured to me. “Well, all of them are seeds so take as many as you’d like—they are just plant seeds not even an item. You should be able to modify them. We just keep food things around this area.”
I approached them and listened to her words, as soon as I peered beyond the lid I indeed saw only seeds, some distinctly shaped but nonetheless I inched my hand forward and grabbed a small amount of them to test. I pushed my mana onto my hand and felt increased familiarity with them. I doubted for half a second before remembering I just wanted to test them rather than make them sprout or something. I chose Silver Azalea, imagining its features but not trying to make it come to life. I felt movement within my hands, it was nothing but a small tickle, both to my skin and mana. Soon, I opened my hand and found a couple of small seeds. They were a bit pointy but I quickly recognized them to be the desired product.
I pushed mana onto my ring and began to touch the vases. I saw them shake into existence inside my storage and some of the vases spilled seeds. I touched about three of them before I felt that the ring was getting a bit too full.
“Well, now that we got that sorted, I think it is time for you to familiarize yourself with your Prophecy.”
I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness when Elasia said that, but followed after her anyway.
◇ ◇ ◇
We had picked up my things from the room I woke up in, and had also dropped a lot of floors down the building, there were no windows, and instead—after passing the metal door there was a large room with red walls and stone floor, dim lights filled the place as if it was some type of prison cell dungeon. Torches with purple light lined the walls, causing a weird contrast with the ceiling, the place wasn’t too wide, but at each side of the wall was what I identified as—gigantic rock figures, they were made out of rock and some type of metal that was haphazardly embedded into them. They were massive, nearly reaching to the ceiling and their heads—were nothing but boulders with a mana crystal embedded in the middle of it.
[Compound Golem. Lvl. 100]
[Compound Golem. Lvl. 100]
I had a brief moment of pause as I waited for the dryad to elaborate.
“Well, here we are, the training room,” she said. “I see you feel some adversity towards the Golems, but don’t worry they are there to protect you.”
“Protect me?” I asked, feeling weird.
“Yea, your Prophecy is D rank, but you yourself are E rank. So mana consumption might be a bit strenuous. Who knows? Plants aren’t particularly known for high mana consumption.” She shrugged. “Anyway, your opponent is, that—” She snapped her fingers and with a distortion in space, right at the center of the room something emerged. Black legs and nimble limbs, streamlined of compacted muscle and a small stature. Its face looked refined but it snarled, showing snake-like fangs.
[Toothless Fangtooth. Lvl. 42]
A transparent screen was formed that divided the room, it had a relatively green tone mixed with gray. The monster hissed and pounced it, but it simply reflected it. Also—how was it toothless with teeth?
“A D ranked monster for testing purposes. Though it should still be slightly weaker than that worm guardian, and its stat distribution is different,” she sighed. “But it’s the best we can do.”
I felt a weird sense of uncomfortability seeing the beast stare at me with its yellowy-green eyes and its constant desire to cross the barrier. “And what am I supposed to do?”
“Oh, we will benchmark you, of course. How do you deal with close combat with your Prophecy, far combat, how fast you can damage it? You know, that kind of stuff.”
Benchmark?
“Just let me know when you’re ready.” She smiled, but I simply stared at the monster.
Could I do it? I felt an odd sense of uncertainty fill me, I felt uncomfortable, weak. Impotent—
“I’m ready…”
“Good.” She snapped her fingers and the barrier dropped.
The beast hissed and pounced. There was a slight sense of fear within me, apprehension to fight, but it was something I had to overcome.
I reached for my spear.
Azrie Part: 2/2
◇ ◇ ◇
Elasia guided me through the building, not bothering to explain many things since I was apparently not going to be here for much longer. Well according to her anyway. The Illusionist was nowhere to be seen, as she had mentioned, I would be dealing with her from now on. Her appearance sort of bothered me a bit, but I was inclined to trust The System, and she also looked slightly different than a Woodland Elf, just a bit. Her demeanor was different, and her hair sparkled under the sunlight as if it was living. Her ears too were slightly less long, but that was about it. I followed after her through the hallways, her ears trembled at random intervals and her height was slightly higher than me. For all intents and purposes she was unthreatening, though her level was still about five times mine.
I was still getting used to things, getting used to The System. I closed my eyes, some brief flashes of what had happened a few hours prior filled my mind—the birds, the trial—I was still inexperienced. I had believed I could kill the Guardian worm, which maybe it was a possibility, but not like how I had done it. Refusing The Illusionist’s offer was perhaps a mistake, but at the same time I didn’t know any better; I did not understand the difference of levels, nor the fact that one could just disguise their own level, though perhaps it was more related to his particular Prophecy, that I was unsure. I just did not understand the mistakes I could make, and ultimately a wrong one would all be paid with my life.
It didn’t sit well with me. I sigh left me as I saw Elasia pause before a door, it was different and metallic, an almost straight-edge design with perfect lines. She grabbed onto a strangely shaped handle and slid it— the door opened sideways and led to a large room—an expansive space that covered an impossibly large section of the building. The insides of the room (if it could even be called that), were full of boxes, stacked on each other as far as the ceiling allowed. There were random objects that littered the ground, and others that were bunched in piles at random intervals.
“Welcome to our warehouse.”
Warehouse? It didn’t seem like much of a house, but instead of questioning it I decided to admire my surroundings. Elasia walked forward, I followed after while looking at the unchanging ceiling, at the repetitive metal boxes. Some were of different color and materials, but most were metal, I found it interesting but thought nothing of it. Soon we reached the end of the room where there were numerous vases, all of them similar in height; reaching about as high as my knee.
She gestured to me. “Well, all of them are seeds so take as many as you’d like—they are just plant seeds not even an item. You should be able to modify them. We just keep food things around this area.”
I approached them and listened to her words, as soon as I peered beyond the lid I indeed saw only seeds, some distinctly shaped but nonetheless I inched my hand forward and grabbed a small amount of them to test. I pushed my mana onto my hand and felt increased familiarity with them. I doubted for half a second before remembering I just wanted to test them rather than make them sprout or something. I chose Silver Azalea, imagining its features but not trying to make it come to life. I felt movement within my hands, it was nothing but a small tickle, both to my skin and mana. Soon, I opened my hand and found a couple of small seeds. They were a bit pointy but I quickly recognized them to be the desired product.
I pushed mana onto my ring and began to touch the vases. I saw them shake into existence inside my storage and some of the vases spilled seeds. I touched about three of them before I felt that the ring was getting a bit too full.
“Well, now that we got that sorted, I think it is time for you to familiarize yourself with your Prophecy.”
I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness when Elasia said that, but followed after her anyway.
◇ ◇ ◇
We had picked up my things from the room I woke up in, and had also dropped a lot of floors down the building, there were no windows, and instead—after passing the metal door there was a large room with red walls and stone floor, dim lights filled the place as if it was some type of prison cell dungeon. Torches with purple light lined the walls, causing a weird contrast with the ceiling, the place wasn’t too wide, but at each side of the wall was what I identified as—gigantic rock figures, they were made out of rock and some type of metal that was haphazardly embedded into them. They were massive, nearly reaching to the ceiling and their heads—were nothing but boulders with a mana crystal embedded in the middle of it.
[Compound Golem. Lvl. 100]
[Compound Golem. Lvl. 100]
I had a brief moment of pause as I waited for the dryad to elaborate.
“Well, here we are, the training room,” she said. “I see you feel some adversity towards the Golems, but don’t worry they are there to protect you.”
“Protect me?” I asked, feeling weird.
“Yea, your Prophecy is D rank, but you yourself are E rank. So mana consumption might be a bit strenuous. Who knows? Plants aren’t particularly known for high mana consumption.” She shrugged. “Anyway, your opponent is, that—” She snapped her fingers and with a distortion in space, right at the center of the room something emerged. Black legs and nimble limbs, streamlined of compacted muscle and a small stature. Its face looked refined but it snarled, showing snake-like fangs.
[Toothless Fangtooth. Lvl. 42]
A transparent screen was formed that divided the room, it had a relatively green tone mixed with gray. The monster hissed and pounced it, but it simply reflected it. Also—how was it toothless with teeth?
“A D ranked monster for testing purposes. Though it should still be slightly weaker than that worm guardian, and its stat distribution is different,” she sighed. “But it’s the best we can do.”
I felt a weird sense of uncomfortability seeing the beast stare at me with its yellowy-green eyes and its constant desire to cross the barrier. “And what am I supposed to do?”
“Oh, we will benchmark you, of course. How do you deal with close combat with your Prophecy, far combat, how fast you can damage it? You know, that kind of stuff.”
Benchmark?
“Just let me know when you’re ready.” She smiled, but I simply stared at the monster.
Could I do it? I felt an odd sense of uncertainty fill me, I felt uncomfortable, weak. Impotent—
“I’m ready…”
“Good.” She snapped her fingers and the barrier dropped.
The beast hissed and pounced. There was a slight sense of fear within me, apprehension to fight, but it was something I had to overcome.
I reached for my spear.
